Marktheidenfeld

Marktheidenfeld is a town in the Main Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany, and the seat (but not a member) of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (municipal association) of Marktheidenfeld. The town has around 11,000 inhabitants.

The town lies 24 km west of Würzburg at the Mainviereck (Main Square) on the eastern side of the Spessart (range), geologically on the seam between the Spessart red sandstone area and the Muschelkalk area of the Fränkische Platte (a flat, mostly agricultural region), which between the Main Square and the Maindreieck (Main Triangle) is known as the Marktheidenfelder Platte.

Marktheidenfeld's Stadtteile are Glasofen (amalgamated in 1972), Zimmern (1974), Marienbrunn (1975), Altfeld, Michelrieth and Oberwittbach (all in 1978). The town has the following Gemarkungen (traditional rural cadastral areas): Altfeld, Glasofen, Marienbrunn, Marktheidenfeld, Michelrieth, Oberwittbach and Zimmern.

Heidenfeld may have arisen during the Frankish taking of the land in the early 8th century. Already by 855 a place by that name was mentioned as belonging to the Holzkirchen Monastery, which from this time belonged to the Fulda Abbey. The Counts of Wertheim, who were the monastery's Vögte also managed in the late 13th century to secure the same office over Heidenfeld. In 1972, the Marktheidenfeld district (Landkreis Marktheidenfeld) was abolished. Since the municipal reforms in Bavaria (1972–1976), the formerly self administering communities of Altfeld, Glasofen, Marienbrunn, Michelrieth, Oberwittbach and Zimmern have belonged to Marktheidenfeld.

The town had some 530 inhabitants in 1542, roughly 730 to 800 in the late 16th century, 630 in 1633 and by the end of the Thirty Years' War, in 1648, possibly 500 to 550. In 1673 the figure had risen again to some 700, and about 1,100 people lived in Marktheidenfeld by 1720. In 1920, after the First World War, 2,058 inhabitants lived in Marktheidenfeld, in 1925, this had shrunk slightly to 2,030, but had risen again to 2,232 in 1933. The population had further grown by 1938 to 2,687 inhabitants. After the Second World War, in 1946, there were 4,302 inhabitants. Within town limits, 8,364 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 9,421 in 1987 and in 2000 10,803. On 1 July 2005, 9,034 inhabitants (76.5%) lived in the main town, and 2,773 (23.5%) in the six outlying centres. The total figure amounted to 11,807 inhabitants, of whom foreigners accounted for just under 8%.

Catholic: 6,210 = 52.6% out of a total population of 11,807 (1 July 2005)
Evangelical: 2,846 = 24.1%
other or none: 2,751 = 23.3%
Marktheidenfeld is the base of the sect Universal Life.

Municipal taxes in 1999 amounted to €13,797,000 (converted), of which net business taxes amounted to €8,484,000.

From June to July, several events take place, such as the Altstadtfest (Old Town Festival) and the Caribbean Night. Since 1999 each year in July the Marktheidenfeld Rowing Club has held the "Red Dragon Cup", at which company and club teams take part in dragon boat races in which even costumes are awarded prizes. On the first weekend in August, the charburners’ club stages its traditional charburners’ festival (Köhlerfest) in the outlying centre of Glasofen. In August, the Marktheidenfeld Folk Festival, the Laurenzi Messe, takes place for ten days. The event's centrepiece is the Laurenzimarkt (market), which since 2007 has been on the bank of the Main.

The Franck Haus is a richly adorned townsman's house from the Baroque period, built in 1745, and is one of the town's most important sights. Permanent exhibits include the "world’s smallest library", a collection of miniature books from Valentin Kaufmann's legacy, a demonstration smithy, an old smith's workshop built in the courtyard, and an information room on painter and artistic craftsman Hermann Gradl's life and works.

Saint Lawrence's Church (St. Laurentius Kirche) has been rebuilt and renovated for more than 700 years. Overall, four major stages of construction, in Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Baroque Revival styles, respectively, can be discerned. Its features include mediaeval frescoes in the choir and two tomb slabs from the 16th century.

The Alte Mainbrücke ("Old Main Bridge"), made out of red sandstone blocks, was built in the mid 19th century during King Ludwig I's reign, and opened in 1845. More than 150 years later, the old arch bridge was followed by the Nordbrücke ("North Bridge"), a bowstring arch bridge with the unusual feature of hangers that cross each other. Other sights include the old town with historic timber frame houses, the Main Promenade, the marketplace with the Fischerbrunnen (fountain), and the Kreuzbergkapelle (chapel), consecrated in 1890. This stands on its namesake mountain, the Kreuzberg, and can be reached by a Way of the Cross.

Since 1 May 2020, Thomas Stamm (CSU) has been the mayor.

The town's arms might be described thus: Argent, in base water azure, thereupon a bridge of stone gules masoned sable with three piers upon which segmented arches with keystones, in chief a mullet of the second. The town's first arms were conferred on 7 September 1883 and showed similar charges, the main differences being that the bridge – which is the local bridge across the Main – bore a golden uppercase cursive L with a silver crown on top on the middle spandrel, which was flanked each side by two digits of the year 1846 (the bridge's building date), that the arches were round rather than segmented and had no keystones, and that the mullet (star shape) was Or (golden) rather than azure (blue). The water was also "proper", meaning that it was shown in natural colour. The current form of the coat of arms has been used since 1930, but was not actually conferred until 1965.

The river Main is a Federal Waterway (Bundeswasserstraße) of the first order for which the Aschaffenburg Water and Ship Transport Office (Wasser und Schifffahrtsamt Aschaffenburg) is responsible.

The Federal Autobahn A 3 (Nuremberg Frankfurt) runs east west, cutting across Staatsstraßen (State Roads) 2299 and 2315 in the outlying centre of Altfeld, whereas Bundesstrasse 8, running through the municipal area, serves as an Autobahn feeder road.

A well developed bus network run by the Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Main Spessart ("Main Spessart Local Transport Company") links the town and its environs. Within town runs a bus.

There is a glider airfield in the outlying centre of Altfeld.